Blue Plague: Decisions, page 26
Then at the tip or west end of the peninsula was a smaller compound that housed over four hundred hostiles and two hundred hostages. It was believed that this was the command area, and in this area the hostages were not kept in separate quarters. In the surveillance from the UAVs, Mission Control noted most hostages here were females or young kids.
When this group was spotted four months ago it was at first thought to be a camp of survivors due to the lack of blues in the area. Then one flight showed a group attacking a farmhouse twenty miles away; they also captured a rape in the front yard. When that was seen, the compound was put under continuous surveillance and Bruce sent out the scout team. It wasn’t long before the brutality of the gang was observed.
There were a lot of reasons Bruce had avoided this gang for so long besides how big they were. This gang had military equipment. A dozen Strykers, four Bradleys, an M-1 tank, and a shitload of Hummers. Along the wall every hundred yards was a guard station with a heavy machine gun. The members of the gang had military weapons as well. This gang was set up very well and was spread out over a large area: six square miles.
All three areas had to be hit at the same time or one could help the others. To make matters worse, each area behind the fence was over a mile and a half from the others, forming a triangle. So if one of Bruce’s teams secured an area, they would have to move almost two miles to help an attack at one of the other areas.
All this was going through Bruce’s mind as he stood on top of the wall of semi-trailers that surrounded the mobile air field. Looking around the wall, he noticed every third section or trailer had a heavy machine gun mounted on it. From the outside it looked like a steel wall. Inside was sixty acres of security. The choppers and vehicles were sitting inside the area with teams prepping them for the attack.
Bruce had wanted to move closer to the attack site but the area they were in, north of Vicksburg, had a low concentration of blues thanks to Omega’s summer of slaughter. That could change quickly because Jackson was only fifty miles from the mobile airfield and Jackson was full of blues. Latest estimates put the count just under half a million.
Omega’s First, Second and Fourth Platoons had flown in on the choppers landing at 1500. With the platoon from Gamma staying behind, as well as drivers and security force, the field would be protected by two hundred troops with another hundred ground crew and support that could be called on to help. Since they’d arrived, the guards had taken out over a hundred blues in the large field they were set up in. Turning around, Bruce looked at the closest tree line half a mile away to the north. On the east and west the tree line was over a mile away. To the south you had to look on a satellite map to see it six miles away. The field they were in had been used at one time for cattle, evidenced by the skeletal remains seen across the field. That was the reason it was chosen; the ground would be much firmer.
Looking at his watch, Bruce saw it was 1824. Turning around, he headed down one of the four portable stairways that led up the walls, then moved toward the RV. The troops were in high spirits but looked scared. They had never seen this much equipment used on an assault before and it was making many nervous. They all wondered why Bruce would want this much.
Walking over to the RV, Bruce found Mike and Wade, his second-in-command, with Willie, Carl, Ted, and Steve standing around the table looking at a map and pictures of the compound. Looking at Wade, he turned to Mike. “Dude, how could you make someone hit on Stephanie?” Bruce asked him.
Mike took a step back. “How do you know that?” he asked nervously.
“Duh, he’s standing right there. Your second-in-command. Do you know they still drive me crazy over that?” Bruce told him in an irritated voice.
“Well it did bring you out of your shell for a little while,” Mike said, grinning.
Bruce shook his head and turned to Wade. “What did he tell you to get you to do it?” he asked.
“The truth. How you were cutting off the outside world and the girls could bring you back,” Wade replied.
Grinning, Bruce said, “That takes some balls, young man.”
“That’s okay sir, Marines are born with them. The Army has to issue them out,” Wade replied, a grin creeping across his face.
The grin fell off Bruce’s face. “I should’ve known,” he said with a flat expression. “Marines have no intelligence.”
“Bruce, Marines may be born with them but they don’t know what to use them for. In the Army, ours are treated like weapons. We have to turn them in with our weapons so we don’t fuck shit up that we aren’t supposed to,” Ted popped off.
“A Marine is never without his weapon or his balls,” Wade snapped back.
“Because you can’t use either, so no one is scared you will hurt anyone,” Carl said, grinning.
“The hell with all of ya,” Joe said, walking over. “The Navy is the only real military force. We travel the world and attack regions and countries. You sissies attack objectives.”
“Navy, that’s a branch of the service?” Ted said, looking at Willie.
“Yeah, they’re like the Air Force. All play and no work,” Willie replied, getting a round of laughter.
Bruce looked at Joe with an irritated face. “What the hell are you doing out here?” he snapped.
“This is the first time this project was put together in the field. I wanted to make sure it would work right. Besides, the Navy has to have a showing here in the command group, someone with intelligence,” Joe told him.
“Joe—” Bruce started and Joe held up his hand.
“Bruce, we have other machinists now and besides, I can work on any aircraft out there. They teach us more than one thing in the Navy. When the other branches learn to count we might show y’all how to do that,” Joe told him.
“Meow hiss,” Carl said. “Enough with the claws,” he added, making Joe laugh and Bruce smile.
“Well since all the branches are here except the Air Force—” Bruce said, and Mike held up his hand.
“Bruce, we have Air Force present,” Mike said, pointing at the radio on the table. “The pilots at base are going to have ten A-10s up when we start,” Mike told him.
“Bruce, we’ve never been formally introduced but I’m Lieutenant Colonel Mack Turner,” a voice said over the radio. “I’m the ranking officer from Little Rock Air Force Base that Mike rescued from Pine Bluff. Jimmy and Steve put me over the fixed wing arm of our air force. I’ve told them thank you for not letting you ground dogs run the planes. Sometimes y’all forget they go up and down,” he jested.
“Mack, good to have you on board, but if you let someone take our home this will all be a moot point,” Bruce said.
“Ah Bruce we have all pilots on immediate standby on the airfield. In ten minutes I can have thirty hogs up, one Spooky, one Eagle, eight big King gun runners and one twin engine Cessna from hell. If they can get through that, you aren’t going to stop them. You ground boys forget there is more sky than ground,” Mack informed Bruce.
“Jake, are you there?” Bruce asked.
“Yes sir,” Jake replied laughing.
“Show Mack what a dick is and that’s why us Army men stand and pee as the Air Force boys squat,” Bruce said, making everyone laugh.
“Okay, that’s enough of the service battering,” Nancy said in the background over the radio.
“Hey Nancy, you’re an Army Ranger. You better not kneel down to an Air Force puke!” Bruce shouted at the radio.
“Bruce, I showed Mack my dick an hour ago and I just got him to quit crying so please leave him alone,” Nancy said, sending everyone including Mack into laughter.
“Okay team, let’s get our game faces on,” Bruce said, bringing everyone back to the here and now. “Gamma is set to leave in two hours. Any questions?”
“Bruce, we found an outpost on Gamma’s route up to Grenada,” Nancy told him.
“How far out?” Bruce asked.
“Eighteen miles,” Mack said.
“They’ll hear if we blow it up,” Bruce said out loud, more to himself than anyone else.
“Well, they are on one hour radio checks at the top of the hour, why not just jam them?” Mack asked.
“How in the hell do you know that?” Bruce asked.
“I showed your son how to operate the classified equipment on the Reaper,” Mack told him.
“You showed Jake how to operate something electronic? Who are you, Obi wan Kenobi?” Bruce asked, a little impressed.
“Ah no, and in his defense unless you know how to turn on the classified radio surveillance system you wouldn’t know it was there,” Mack told Bruce.
“So what are they saying?” Bruce asked.
Jake answered, “They are not really scared and don’t think we’ll attack. They did move out a small blocking force to the southeast on the highway we blew up the other gang on, but pulled them back. The commander, a man with the call sign Switch, spoke over the radio, telling his troops if they stayed in the fort we can’t touch them. Dad, they have some guesses about our numbers. Granted, they are low, like when Omega was only forty strong. It seems they have one of the judges there.”
“Wonder which one?” Bruce asked.
“Don’t know, but he gave a very good description of you, the squad leaders and the family in First Squad,” Jake said in a pissed-off voice.
“Couldn’t be helped,” Bruce said.
“You didn’t hear what he wanted to do with us,” Danny said over the radio. Bruce could tell by her voice she was livid.
“You didn’t by any chance narrow down where Switch was, did you?” Bruce asked hopefully.
“Oh yes, the house in the command area. It’s surrounded by mobile homes, first floor center of the northwest wall. But that was when he transmitted two hours ago,” Jake said.
“Tell me you’ve had a UAV over that house,” Bruce asked.
“No Dad, we never thought of that. We’ve been down here playing checkers,” Jake shot back in a pissed-off voice.
“Watch the attitude, son,” Bruce warned.
“Did you leave us in charge or what?” Jake snapped back. “Hell yes we have had a bird over that house. We got a picture of him and what appears to be several other members of the upper echelon.”
“Have they gone anywhere else?” Mike asked.
“Yes, they did a tour of the compound and went back to the house. We aren’t talking about what they brought with them from the hostage holding area,” Stephanie said over the radio. She was sitting in the flight control area with the rest of the command group with the radio in the middle of the table.
“Send us their pictures,” Willie said with a grin.
“Willie, play nice with them, they seem fragile,” Danny said over the radio.
“Oh I will Danny, I promise,” Willie said as the fax machine started printing. Turning around, he grabbed the first page as it fell off the fax machine and passed it around.
“You can fax in color? When could they do that?” Bruce shouted, looking at the color photo.
“Dad, you’re so embarrassing me,” Jake said over the radio.
Bruce ignored Jake and looked at the other photos. “Well Willie, you have your hit list,” he said. “The operation is a go. Mack, when Gamma gets close, jam their radio so Gamma can take them out after the 0400 check. Then let’s take the pieces of shit out.”
“Hey Bruce, could you talk to the troops before kick off? They’re a little nervous,” Mike said. He did not admit that he was, too.
“Gather them up now,” Bruce said. Then looking at the radio, “Base, hold the fort and keep the intel coming our way,” Bruce told them.
“We will, Bruce. I know this sounds crazy going into a battle, but please try to be careful and stay safe,” Nancy said.
“Fuck that, you damn well better be careful you son of a bitch. If you leave me with these kids and your other insane wife I’m so going to kick your ass!” Stephanie shouted at the radio.
“You’re the insane one, making kids do pushups for coloring outside the lines!” Angela yelled at Stephanie.
“I’m sorry guys, my family is insane,” Bruce said, grinning with pride.
“We heard that,” Angela said.
“I know. It’s game time, we love you and we need you to help run the battle. Keep the radio chatter down as much as possible. See y’all tomorrow,” Bruce said.
“Love y’all too,” the family shouted and moved to stations. Food was in the command bunker in the front of Mission Control. Jake didn’t want any liquids in the room. They started eating in shifts. All over the base, the clan was sitting in the Center, the other mess hall, or the new recreation center, watching the screens of TVs playing the UAV feeds of the gang’s compound. There were almost a thousand members of the clan out for this battle. Granted only four hundred, Gamma and Omega, were going to be on the ground, but they had a lot behind them and overhead.
Nine thousand plus people were going to stay awake to watch their warriors fight this battle. The survivors that had just joined felt just as close as the ones that had been with the clan for a while. For months they had listened to the rumors of a group fighting for others, and now they were part of it.
Bruce stepped out of the RV followed by the rest of the leaders. “Climb up on that Hummer,” Mike said, pointing to his right. “I’ve called the troops over. Turn your mic on so those on guard duty can hear too,” he added.
Climbing up on the Hummer, Bruce had no idea what he was going to say. As he stood on the roof he saw troops running over to him. They were men, women, black, white, Hispanic, young and old. But Bruce only saw them as his troops. They’d put their trust in him to lead them. They could have stayed and hid, but they believed in him and his dream of rebuilding America.
“Troops!” Bruce bellowed out in a loud, deep voice.
“Hoorah!” they shouted back.
“I stand before you as we prepare to launch an attack, our biggest to date, but I can guarantee it won’t be that way for long. There are bigger gangs out there and a shitload of blues that need killing and that’s our business!” Bruce bellowed.
“And business is good!” they yelled back.
Bruce smiled and spoke in a loud but normal voice. “Troops, I have seen some here that are nervous and some that are scared. Let me tell you that’s okay, but when we load up, let it all go. Too many people are depending on what we do. Men, women, and kids not even born yet are counting on you to make this land safe again. Without the clan behind us and the warriors here there is no hope for this land or mankind. The battles of yesteryear were fought for freedom or ideals. This war is being fought for survival from the infected and the freedom to live in peace from the evil of demented men. There are many out there like the ones we are fixing to attack that are hurting their fellow man for no other reason than to be malevolent. Mankind is teetering on extinction and this is how they act: raping, murdering, and torturing anyone they please. If you stand with me I will lead you in this war. I will stand beside you and fight with you. I’m ready to die for you. I only ask you to do the same for me because we will kill many before we go.”
Bruce started to raise his voice. “Do not have fear for yourself. Cover your buddies, fight for your clan, your friends and your family. Stand tall and be proud at all times, you are the elite of the clan and this land. The clan supports you to go forth in the wilderness and bring hope to others, be they trapped, hiding from the infected, or inside a gang’s camp enduring pain for just being alive. The clan supports you, believes in you, and has pride in you because they know you will fight the fight. Never give up! Follow me until this war is over. The clan knows that as long as one of its warriors is alive, the battle to save mankind is still being fought. As long as one of us breathes the war is still being fought,” Bruce started to shout.
“We are their warriors, the hope of America and mankind. We will fight the battles, we will wade in blood, we will take the wounds. If we die, our friends, family and clan, will continue the fight and remember us, that we stood with them. We will not stop until this land is free again. Moving across this land we will save those who need it and kill those who threaten the freedom and survival of others. The warriors I see before me are the new plague. We bring death but we also bring hope for a better future. Never will we oppress! We are the clan’s arm of hope to others. Never shall we bow down to any. Remember this day, my warriors, the day the war started to take back this land that has been paid for by generations of our families. The days of our small battles are over. Our baptism in blood has been paid. We stand tall, and as we go into battle our hearts are strong. We will win this war no matter how long it takes, no matter the cost. Failure is not an option. We will never falter as we move forward step by step, mile by mile, clearing the land of those that bring death to our fellow man and threaten the clan, be it from infected or evil men. They will fall one and all. We are the knights of old, fighting with everything we have. Those in our path may be scared of us but soon they will be in mortal fear of us. We are the warriors and this is our war! Are you with me my fellow warriors?” Bruce yelled at the top of his lungs.
Goosebumps were on everyone as they started yelling, “Yes” and jumping up and down. Mike had picked Ted up, yelling, caught up in the moment. Back at base a UAV overhead of the mobile air base had centered on Bruce and his radio carried back his words. Everywhere people were cheering and yelling, from Mission Control to those on guard duty who heard it over their radio. In the Center, mess halls, and recreation centers, people were standing and cheering. They were going to take back this land. The entire clan wanted to jump in something and find a blue or gang and beat the shit out of it. On the flight line on the west end of the base, men were jumping up and down and pilots were running for planes. Only when they started up the engines asking for permission to take off and kill something did Mack come over the radio to tell them to hold for just a little while.
